Share this story

After focusing on gifts for the road and gifts for the home, Ars' third installment in our 2018 Holiday Gift Guide goes a different route. Since Ars is a site for people who don’t mind digging deep into how tech works, the theme today is gift ideas for “power users”—those who are more involved with modern tech and can’t stand to use less than fully featured gear.

Basically, these items seem tailor-made for the people in your life who may already read a site like Ars Technica. The protocol here is the same as it was with our first two guides: we’ve looked back on a year of gadget testing and rounded up a smattering of items we think would make your loved one happy. Fair warning: because this particular guide is aimed at people who demand high utility and/or high performance, some of the items below are a little pricey. But, as always, you get what you pay for.

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Element Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Motherboard

(Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.)

The latest iteration of the tiny PC, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, added a speedier quad-core, 64-bit, 1.4GHz Cortex-A53 processor, faster Ethernet support, and more robust dual-band Wi-Fi alongside the usual audio jack, Bluetooth 4.2, and HDMI port. The base motherboard costs $35, though you’ll want to ensure your loved one has a microSD card, power supply, heat sinks, and a spare HDMI cable handy if they’re a first-time Pi user. (You can get a bundle that includes all of that if you don’t have such parts already.)

Once that’s all set, there are a billion different things your loved one could make with the Pi. A retro game console—with no game limits!—is a popular one, but they could also build their own smart speaker, garage door opener, flying quadcopter, or any other project with a good tutorial. The Model B+ itself isn’t strong enough to be a great media streamer or full-fledged PC, but it’s technically capable of being those things, too. Whatever the use case, as long as your loved one has enough patience to get by the initial learning curve, the Pi tends to bring fun to those who genuinely love tech.

Mophie Powerstation AC

Enlarge/ Mophie's Powerstation AC battery. The actual AC port is on the top of the device.

A portable battery is eternally useful for someone who lives on the road, but most packs are designed for smartphones and tablets more so than bigger laptops. If you’re buying for someone who frequently works on the go, a more robust battery like the Mophie Powerstation AC is strong enough to keep their notebook charged when they can’t reach a wall outlet.

Mophie Powerstation AC

(Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.)

The Powerstation AC carries an ample 22,000mAh of juice and can put out a little more than 100 watts of power through its built-in AC port. That’s borderline overkill for thinner Ultrabooks and strong enough to add several hours of use to many bulkier 15-inch laptops. Whether or not it can completely recharge a larger laptop will depend on the size of that notebook’s battery, but it should at least get between 70-80 percent of the way there, which is still strong relative to other batteries in this market.

There’s a 30W USB-C Power Delivery port for quickly recharging smartphones and other USB-C devices on top of that, as well as a USB-A port for recharging older devices at 12W. The USB-C PD makes it so that refilling the Powerstation AC itself doesn’t take as long as it could, either—though, as with most giant portable batteries, it will still take two to three hours to get back to 100 percent. This Mophie is designed well, too: a rubber flap protects the AC port from potential debris; activating the AC power is as simple as pressing a little power button on the top of the device; and I personally enjoy the fabric coating covering the device. It comes with a two-year warranty on the off chance something goes wrong, and Mophie is a well-known, relatively trustworthy name in a market filled with shady brands.

The Powerstation AC isn’t without its flaws. While it isn’t all that loud compared to other AC packs, it still makes more noise than a traditional portable battery. Likewise, while many competing packs are bulkier, the Powerstation AC isn’t exactly small: it’s 7.5 inches tall and weighs 1.7 pounds, so it’s meant to be stashed in a backpack. Mophie probably could have added at least one more USB port, too. Most notably, this battery is undeniably pricey for a 22,000mAh capacity. But some of these issues are inevitable for an AC battery. For this particular use case, the Powerstation AC is a powerful and polished choice for frequent flyers or power emergencies.

Ubiquiti UniFi AP AC Lite

On a broad level, the rise of “mesh” Wi-Fi systems over the last few years is great. The consumer networking industry should make it easier to eliminate coverage dead spots around the house. But if your loved one suffers from that brand of bad Internet and doesn’t mind running a few more Ethernet cables around their place, they can solve that problem for much less money by investing in more traditional wireless access points like those in Ubiquiti’s UniFi AP line.

Ubiquiti UniFi AP AC Lite

(Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.)

These little discs connect to your home network through a wired Ethernet port and beam out Wi-Fi to their surrounding area. This eliminates any issues a mesh system might have transferring a wireless signal from access point to access point. As a result, even the entry-level UniFi AP AC Lite, which costs $80 per unit, usually performs better or at least on par with mesh WI-Fi kits that are two to three times as expensive.

How well it performs will depend on the size and layout of your loved one’s place, but they don’t necessarily have to go full Lee Hutchinson with their setup: one AC Lite should be enough to cover a typical apartment, while one or two should be good enough for most houses. So long as your gift recipient is OK with a few more cables and running Ubiquiti’s software controller on a computer to set up the device (it's not as complicated as it sounds), this should help provide smooth, reliable Wi-Fi in spots that were once a source of frustration. That said, we do like Netgear’s Orbi (RBK50) mesh kit for those who are willing to pay up for a simpler, more wireless setup—Orbi's raw throughput is still incredibly impressive for that class of device.

The Shield does not support Dolby Vision HDR, however. If your loved one needs that—or if they're already invested in Apple devices and AirPlay streaming—the Apple TV 4K is the obvious alternative in this price range.

If you're putting off getting an Apple TV because it cannot direct play from a Plex server, you should be aware that there is an update to the tvOS (and iOS) client which enables this.

Currently only available to Plexpass holders on the beta program mind you.

Seriously, though, your options for that are RAID 1, RAID 0, or JBOD. At least with a 4 bay you can fantasize about RAID 10 (even though you're probably running RAID 5 and secretly feeling guilty about it).

I would love to peak into the mind of somebody who thinks giving a $1000+ Christmas gift is normal/acceptable behavior.

Some of the sub $100 ideas aren't bad though. I actually gave somebody a UAP-AC-PRO 2 years ago, although it was a combined Christmas/birthday gift.

At this point, I've given up on Ars (or any other tech site, for that matter) suggesting gifts in the price range that I would consider normal/acceptable. Sorry, Jeff, but if I want something that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars like a NAS or a friggin' laptop, I am going to put in the requisite volume of research to ensure that I'm getting something I will actually use for the long-term. Buying something like that as a gift is a massive gamble.

Maybe I'm just not the target market for a list like this. I would be really curious to know how much Ars pulls in from the affiliate links for the various items on this list. Maybe nehinks and I are the oddballs?

I would love to peak into the mind of somebody who thinks giving a $1000+ Christmas gift is normal/acceptable behavior.

Some of the sub $100 ideas aren't bad though. I actually gave somebody a UAP-AC-PRO 2 years ago, although it was a combined Christmas/birthday gift.

At this point, I've given up on Ars (or any other tech site, for that matter) suggesting gifts in the price range that I would consider normal/acceptable. Sorry, Jeff, but if I want something that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars like a NAS or a friggin' laptop, I am going to put in the requisite volume of research to ensure that I'm getting something I will actually use for the long-term. Buying something like that as a gift is a massive gamble.

Maybe I'm just not the target market for a list like this. I would be really curious to know how much Ars pulls in from the affiliate links for the various items on this list. Maybe nehinks and I are the oddballs?

My gut tells me that the "gifts" purchased at the behest of guides like this are presents to oneself more often than not.

I would love to peak into the mind of somebody who thinks giving a $1000+ Christmas gift is normal/acceptable behavior.

Some of the sub $100 ideas aren't bad though. I actually gave somebody a UAP-AC-PRO 2 years ago, although it was a combined Christmas/birthday gift.

At this point, I've given up on Ars (or any other tech site, for that matter) suggesting gifts in the price range that I would consider normal/acceptable. Sorry, Jeff, but if I want something that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars like a NAS or a friggin' laptop, I am going to put in the requisite volume of research to ensure that I'm getting something I will actually use for the long-term. Buying something like that as a gift is a massive gamble.

Maybe I'm just not the target market for a list like this. I would be really curious to know how much Ars pulls in from the affiliate links for the various items on this list. Maybe nehinks and I are the oddballs?

My gut tells me that the "gifts" purchased at the behest of guides like this are presents to oneself more often than not.

Honestly, I feel kind of dumb for not having thought of that. You're probably right!

I would love to peak into the mind of somebody who thinks giving a $1000+ Christmas gift is normal/acceptable behavior.

Some of the sub $100 ideas aren't bad though. I actually gave somebody a UAP-AC-PRO 2 years ago, although it was a combined Christmas/birthday gift.

At this point, I've given up on Ars (or any other tech site, for that matter) suggesting gifts in the price range that I would consider normal/acceptable. Sorry, Jeff, but if I want something that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars like a NAS or a friggin' laptop, I am going to put in the requisite volume of research to ensure that I'm getting something I will actually use for the long-term. Buying something like that as a gift is a massive gamble.

Maybe I'm just not the target market for a list like this. I would be really curious to know how much Ars pulls in from the affiliate links for the various items on this list. Maybe nehinks and I are the oddballs?

My gut tells me that the "gifts" purchased at the behest of guides like this are presents to oneself more often than not.

Yeeeeeep. Heaven help me if my family or anyone tried do buy me "Tech" gifts. Any real "techie" researches the bejesus out of their own setups and the idea of getting a random access point or NAS that doesn't fit their usage or needs just means absently smiling and going "Geeee....that's....that's nice...." while their family member looks on wondering why you're not more excited after they spent so much money on what the internet told them to buy.

As a "techie"....buy me dress socks, ties, undershirts....boring crap so I can spend my $$$ on the tech stuff I want. That's the best gift for a nerd. Free up my income a bit to buy fun things, don't try and buy me fun things.

I would love to peak into the mind of somebody who thinks giving a $1000+ Christmas gift is normal/acceptable behavior.

Some of the sub $100 ideas aren't bad though. I actually gave somebody a UAP-AC-PRO 2 years ago, although it was a combined Christmas/birthday gift.

At this point, I've given up on Ars (or any other tech site, for that matter) suggesting gifts in the price range that I would consider normal/acceptable. Sorry, Jeff, but if I want something that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars like a NAS or a friggin' laptop, I am going to put in the requisite volume of research to ensure that I'm getting something I will actually use for the long-term. Buying something like that as a gift is a massive gamble.

Maybe I'm just not the target market for a list like this. I would be really curious to know how much Ars pulls in from the affiliate links for the various items on this list. Maybe nehinks and I are the oddballs?

You're not wrong here, and it is a common complaint on all these gifts guides (one that I have been seeing more often too). I think there are a few things at play here. First, as a tech site things just tend to be more expensive than if this were a home site or clothing site etc. Technology that is good is usually a little pricey for the gift giving range. Second, I think there is some disconnect based on all the review hardware that is received. I know if I was able to look at most new phones that come out I too would start to nitpick about the size of bezels and would recommend expensive things because they are just a little better than less expensive things. Lastly, I think there is a disconnect between how much inflation has driven up costs. $100 is not nearly as much today as it was 5 years ago, or 10 years. a $250 NAS is actually pretty decent deal, and is on the level of spending around $100-$150 on someone a few years ago, something I would consider for a close family member in some instances. I know at least in my family we had to recently up the maximum we have for our gift exchange as it was really difficult to find decent things for under $35 any more.

Seriously, though, your options for that are RAID 1, RAID 0, or JBOD. At least with a 4 bay you can fantasize about RAID 10 (even though you're probably running RAID 5 and secretly feeling guilty about it).

Yeah, a 2-bay NAS makes very little sense. You get either a brutal cost/capacity ratio (if you mirror the drives), or twice the data-loss risk and three times the cost & weight of a single USB HDD (if you JBOD or stripe it).

I concur with everyone who's saying "is this a gifts-for-yourself guide?" and "what kind of person spends $x,xxx on a gift?". The Pi, sure, those make good presents. Maybe the UniFi stuff, too, if you know it'll solve a problem that really bothers your parent / sibling / friend. But the kind of people who stuff MacBooks and 55" flatscreens under a tree are not the kind of people you find in my social circles. None of us would dare carry a credit card balance across a year-end period, not when you can make everyone just as happy - without any recipient's guilt - with home-baked cookies, mulled cider, and a roaring woodstove.

Seriously, though, your options for that are RAID 1, RAID 0, or JBOD. At least with a 4 bay you can fantasize about RAID 10 (even though you're probably running RAID 5 and secretly feeling guilty about it).

Its a low-energy local fileserver. Don't even bother with RAID, since its mostly a custom software deploy that is impossible to recover if the hardware goes south on you. RAID isn't a backup. This is maybe just the only 321 onsite device you keep on and accessible.

Its a low-energy local fileserver. Don't even bother with RAID, since its mostly a custom software deploy that is impossible to recover if the hardware goes south on you. RAID isn't a backup. This is maybe just the only 321 onsite device you keep on and accessible.

Synologys can be recovered by taking the drives out and plugging them into any other Synology unit - I recently did this in migrating from a DS212 to a DS218+. Took less than 15 minutes to complete the process. Similarly, their "Synology Hybrid RAID" can survive the loss of one hard drive, though it will take awhile to rebuild the array.

Upgraded the network over the summer with 3 Ubiquiti APs. Really made a difference in wifi reliability at the fringes of the house and most of the time I'm able to use the 5GHz band with 40 MHz bandwidth channels. Makes a real difference in performance.

And running Cat 5e in the ceiling isn't as big a deal as you might think. There are lots of places to hide cables, like closets, so you might not even need to get up in the attic.

The LG B8 OLED is just last year's LG C7 OLED model. I have the C7 model purchased a year ago and its an amazing TV. But if i am dropping that kind of coin today, i would get the C8 model that has better motion processing.

Seriously, though, your options for that are RAID 1, RAID 0, or JBOD. At least with a 4 bay you can fantasize about RAID 10 (even though you're probably running RAID 5 and secretly feeling guilty about it).

Its a low-energy local fileserver. Don't even bother with RAID, since its mostly a custom software deploy that is impossible to recover if the hardware goes south on you. RAID isn't a backup. This is maybe just the only 321 onsite device you keep on and accessible.

Synology uses standard mdadm raid volumes. As long as you still have enough drives in the array available you can easily recover them by using another Synology device, or by moving the drives to a PC that boots to Linux either on another local drive or Live CD.

Seriously, though, your options for that are RAID 1, RAID 0, or JBOD. At least with a 4 bay you can fantasize about RAID 10 (even though you're probably running RAID 5 and secretly feeling guilty about it).

Claiming shields hdr works great is gross. It works horrible and is a deal breaker.

The shield STILL has issues with delivering video accurately and still doesn't do auto colorspace switching. The interface is mess as well. ATV4 with Infuse is the better single device for streaming and local libraries. The only drawback is the lack of HD Audio passthrough for local files, you're stuck with PCM if you use Infuse or MRmC.

I would love to peak into the mind of somebody who thinks giving a $1000+ Christmas gift is normal/acceptable behavior.

Some of the sub $100 ideas aren't bad though. I actually gave somebody a UAP-AC-PRO 2 years ago, although it was a combined Christmas/birthday gift.

At this point, I've given up on Ars (or any other tech site, for that matter) suggesting gifts in the price range that I would consider normal/acceptable. Sorry, Jeff, but if I want something that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars like a NAS or a friggin' laptop, I am going to put in the requisite volume of research to ensure that I'm getting something I will actually use for the long-term. Buying something like that as a gift is a massive gamble.

Maybe I'm just not the target market for a list like this. I would be really curious to know how much Ars pulls in from the affiliate links for the various items on this list. Maybe nehinks and I are the oddballs?

My gut tells me that the "gifts" purchased at the behest of guides like this are presents to oneself more often than not.

At least for the higher-end options. I hate to sound greedy, but I'm trying to save up for a place of my own in NYC; I cannot really afford to give a friggin Macbook Pro to one of my family members. I am thinking of buying a 4K TV to replace my younger sister's regular HDTV, but then I googled the LG G8's price....

However, I will say this; I refuse to buy magnetic portable HDDs anymore. You either have to treat them like they're your newborn child, or one accidental small fall or bump and then oh hey, click...... click...... click....file system not recognized you must format it. So yes, the Samsung portable SSD is a good recommendation.

That and I have never, not once, seen a 2.5" portable HDD with a 5 year warranty. Last time I bothered, 3 was rare. It's almost like the hard drive companies know that's what's going to happen to them and they want to minimize their RMA costs as much as possible...

I get that a lot of people view these gifts as very pricey. But there are actually people that do spend this much on Christmas. Just because YOU don't spend that much, doesn't mean other people don't. Get some perspective people.

"Look, a NAS is not a sexy gift. You’ll never see a commercial in which some guy wins his partner’s heart by giving them network-attached storage for the holidays."?

Oh you are so wrong! I just installed a secure (VPN, encypted HDDs, etc.) Qnap NAS to create a personal cloud so that we can access all our private data remotely without relying on the public cloud services.

My wife needs to work on multiple PCs and uses the NAS for work as well as organising our personal finances.

It is almost impossible to buy a TV now that isn't a smart TV. So the Shield will be duplicative for most users. My TCL 4k TV comes with Roku, which offers Plex, Amazon Prime, Netflix etc. It is set up with ARC to my 5.1 receiver, which brings me to the "gift" (to self) idea that is sorely missing in this gift guide: A good surround sound AVR.

I get that a lot of people view these gifts as very pricey. But there are actually people that do spend this much on Christmas. Just because YOU don't spend that much, doesn't mean other people don't. Get some perspective people.

Seriously, though, your options for that are RAID 1, RAID 0, or JBOD. At least with a 4 bay you can fantasize about RAID 10 (even though you're probably running RAID 5 and secretly feeling guilty about it).

Its a low-energy local fileserver. Don't even bother with RAID, since its mostly a custom software deploy that is impossible to recover if the hardware goes south on you. RAID isn't a backup. This is maybe just the only 321 onsite device you keep on and accessible.

Synology uses standard mdadm raid volumes. As long as you still have enough drives in the array available you can easily recover them by using another Synology device, or by moving the drives to a PC that boots to Linux either on another local drive or Live CD.

Agreed. I'd also add that as soon as you have more than RAID1, recovery becomes more complicated. With RAID 1 - its just a case of pull the surviving drive and mount it in a computer or USB cradle.

If you have more data that must be stored together then a single drive can hold (14TB last I checked), then you are in a very small minority, and still have the issue of how to you backup that server. Having spent hours feeding 3.5" floppies multiple times, to back up a server in the bad old days, and tried restoring from corrupted tapes, I welcome our Iron Wolf Overlords

If I didn't already have a T5 storage device I'd be thrilled to get one as a gift. I am continually surprised at how small it is when I look for it, like half the size of my usual Passport portable drive, and its speed is a joy.

I would love to peak into the mind of somebody who thinks giving a $1000+ Christmas gift is normal/acceptable behavior.

Some of the sub $100 ideas aren't bad though. I actually gave somebody a UAP-AC-PRO 2 years ago, although it was a combined Christmas/birthday gift.

At this point, I've given up on Ars (or any other tech site, for that matter) suggesting gifts in the price range that I would consider normal/acceptable. Sorry, Jeff, but if I want something that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars like a NAS or a friggin' laptop, I am going to put in the requisite volume of research to ensure that I'm getting something I will actually use for the long-term. Buying something like that as a gift is a massive gamble.

Maybe I'm just not the target market for a list like this. I would be really curious to know how much Ars pulls in from the affiliate links for the various items on this list. Maybe nehinks and I are the oddballs?

My gut tells me that the "gifts" purchased at the behest of guides like this are presents to oneself more often than not.

Yeeeeeep. Heaven help me if my family or anyone tried do buy me "Tech" gifts. Any real "techie" researches the bejesus out of their own setups and the idea of getting a random access point or NAS that doesn't fit their usage or needs just means absently smiling and going "Geeee....that's....that's nice...." while their family member looks on wondering why you're not more excited after they spent so much money on what the internet told them to buy.

As a "techie"....buy me dress socks, ties, undershirts....boring crap so I can spend my $$$ on the tech stuff I want. That's the best gift for a nerd. Free up my income a bit to buy fun things, don't try and buy me fun things.

My Christmas present this year is a Denon receiver. I told my wife her shopping for me was done after I ordered it.

Just a tip for those thinking of the Ubiquiti APs, you need PoE, and more than one if over 1500sqft. I went with the Orbi (I also looked into the Velop but found the Orbi had more features I can use).

They include a PoE injector, so you don't need any extra hardware, and you only need to run a single cable to the device. That's a major plus if you're ceiling mounting them, which will also give you better coverage per AP than most solutions that sit on a table. (Or worse, the floor, as I've seen in several cases.)

[edit to add: The 5-packs don't include injectors, but the single units do.]